Space Missions

Israel’s Space Agency (ISA) and the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology announced on 10 October 2018 that they will support the Lunar projects of the SpaceIL organization with up to U.S.$2 million in funding. SpaceIL is an Israeli startup founded in 2010 by engineers Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari, and …

Astroscale Japan Inc., an affiliate of Singaporean-Japanese New Space company Astroscale that aims to utilise technology top remove space debris in Earth orbit, has contracted with Russian satellite launch provider Glavkosmos/GK Launch Services to launch its End of Life Services by Astroscale –demonstration (ELSA-d) spacecraft on a Soyuz-2 cluster mission …

Uzbekistan and France have signed a framework agreement on space cooperation during a state visit to Paris by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on 9 October 2018. The agreement was signed in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron by Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall and Abdulaziz …

Space industry startup, Space Impulse, has assembled a team of veteran technologists and orbital-class aerospace leaders with a mission to lower costs and accelerate times to orbit by streamlining supply chain integration on a comprehensive, global business-to-business (B2B) platform. The platform is designed specifically to address the challenges of complex, …

NASA’s Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway is set to be a staging post in space – a science lab, communications hub, and holding area for robots and rovers and a jumping off point for future deep space transportation. The Gateway will be pivotal for the expansion of humanity’s presence on the Moon, Mars, …

At UNISPACE50+, held earlier this year to celebrate 50 years of space, a new competition was launched by NewSpace 2060 in collaboration with the Moon Village Association (MVA) to encourage everyone to engage with the vision of a NewSpace economy by 2060. The competition encourages interested parties from entrepreneurs and …

Thai Space entrepreneur James Yenbamroong, founder and CEO of Thai New Space company mu Space, announced on 9 October 2018 a plan to establish a venture unit in 2019 in a move to go international and to create opportunities other than satellite communications. Yenbamroong said that the planned venture unit …

A “Memorandum of Understanding between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Federal Space Agency of Russia, Roscosmos, on Joint Activities in the field of Human Spaceflight Programme,” was signed between India and Russia on 5 October 2018. The MoU was signed by Dmitriy Rogozin, Director of Roscosmos, and …

The International Astronautical Congress held in Bremen, Germany last week welcomed a record 6,500 delegates and 83 registered countries, reaffirming a global love affair with space. In addition, more than 10.000 participants attended the public day on Wednesday 3 October to tune-in live to the International Space Station (ISS) for …

The UAE’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) with the European Space Agency (ESA) to define frameworks for potential cooperation in space science and technology and capacity building for human spaceflight activities. This took place on the sidelines of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) …